


Always ready to bolt

by LightsUpInTheNorth



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: (slight angst), Angst, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post Season 3, TW: Blood, it's nothing major, just minor injuries, they're roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24352240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightsUpInTheNorth/pseuds/LightsUpInTheNorth
Summary: It takes a lot to convince Billy to stay at Steve’s. Steve understands that he isn’t Billy’s first choice for a roommate, but surely living with him is better than having nowhere to go, right? Well, Billy doesn’t seem certain.Billy’s not a bad roommate… he’s the opposite, in fact. It’s just that, for the first few weeks of their arrangement, Steve barely even notices he doesn’t live on his own anymore. Sure, Billy’s there all the time, but he barely takes any room at all.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 14
Kudos: 142





	Always ready to bolt

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Here is a slighty angsty/fluffy ficlet. I hope you'll enjoy ;)

When he learns that Billy survived Starcourt, Steve visits him every day in the hospital. At first, Billy doesn’t say anything, because he can’t speak, so Steve does all the talking. He babbles almost constantly, so neither of them will have to focus on the beeping of the machines Billy is hooked to, or on the greyish white of the walls, of the ceiling, of the bed sheets, of everything in this fucking room, in this fucking hospital. 

The first words Billy says to him when he recovers the ability to speak are: 

“Why are you here?” 

Billy’s voice is rough from disuse and nearly inaudible, but the words have the force of a punch in the gut and they leave Steve winded. For the first time in a long while, he’s speechless. It took Billy finally talking to shut Steve up. It’s not all that surprising. Steve always has the worst timing. 

He has no answer for Billy, because that question, the one he just asked, Steve has asked to himself countless times in the last few weeks. And he’s no closer to answering it than he was when he first thought about it. 

So, he replies with another question. That’s all he has. 

“Do you want me to go?” Steve gets up.

“No!” Billy whispers-yells, reaching instinctively for Steve’s wrist. 

He lets go of it almost immediately and clears his throat. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

“No worries.” 

Silence settles, and it’s uncomfortable. So much so that Steve starts rambling again. He’s relieved when Billy butts in with a comment here and there. Maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t entirely despise Steve. 

It goes on like this until Billy is discharged from the hospital. Steve is the one who comes to fetch him, because apparently his father couldn’t make it. He drops him off at the Hargrove-Mayfield home and, right after Billy exits the car, before he can close the passenger door, Steve tells him to call if he wants, so they can talk or hang out “or whatever”. He’s not looking at Billy, when he says it. And he’s pretty sure he’s blushing… he can feel the tell-tale heat in his cheeks. 

“Sure. And, Harrington… thank you.” 

Steve isn’t sure what Billy is thanking him for: the ride, the visits or both, but he replies: 

“It was no trouble.” 

Because that’s the truth. 

He thinks that he’ll hear from Billy in a couple days, at best, but it happens much sooner than that. Steve hears from him a few hours later, but indirectly. He gets a call from Max, and she sounds panicked. Steve is on alert as soon as her dread registers to him. 

“Steve… You’ve got to do something. It’s Billy… He’s not home… I don’t know where he went but I don’t think he’s planning on coming back. All of his stuff is gone… I… I’m really worried.” 

Fuck. That’s quite bad, but at least Billy probably hasn’t gone very far. He doesn’t own a car anymore, after all. Steve probably has a shot at finding him. 

“I… I’ll look for him. Try not to worry, I’ll update you as soon as I can.”

“Thank you.” She says, and Steve can hear the tears in her voice. 

His chest tightens. He needs to hurry. 

He only notices he was gripping the phone far too hard when he slams it down to hang up, the clanging noise it makes resonating in his barren flat. 

Steve drives around, trying to ignore his shaky hands and frantic heartbeat. It’s pouring rain, which makes it hard to see. He still notices a hunched figure by the side of the road, on the outskirt of town. He slows the car and roll the passenger window down. 

It is indeed one Billy Hargrove, wearing a now soaked hoodie and carrying a duffle bag. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Hargrove?” Steve yells to be heard above the sound of the rain. 

“I’m going somewhere.” Billy says. 

The bastard isn’t stopping. 

“Where?” 

His steps falter. 

“I don’t know… just somewhere.” 

Just somewhere… What a brilliant plan. Steve sighs, equal part annoyed and worried. 

“Get in the car.” 

Billy doesn’t move. 

“Get in the fucking car, Billy, I swear!” 

Steve instantly regrets letting his stress get the best of him, but at least it gets him what he wants.

“Fine, fine, I’m getting in…” Once Billy is seated and has closed the door, he adds: “just, don’t drive me home, please. I just can’t live there anymore.” 

Steve would like to enquire about it, but now isn’t the right time for that. His number one priority is getting Billy some dry clothes. 

“Why didn’t you just say so, earlier? You could have just come to my place with me.” Steve asks as he makes a U-turn to get them back to Hawkins. 

Billy doesn’t answer, preferring to fidget with the zipper of his duffle bag. 

-

It takes a lot to convince Billy to stay at Steve’s. Steve understands that he isn’t Billy’s first choice for a roommate, but surely living with him is better than having nowhere to go, right? Well, Billy doesn’t seem certain. 

Billy’s not a bad roommate… he’s the opposite, in fact. It’s just that, for the first few weeks of their arrangement, Steve barely even notices he doesn’t live on his own anymore. Sure, Billy’s there all the time, but he barely takes any room at all. 

Steve tries to make Billy take the bed, since he’s still recovering, but Billy insists he’ll be fine on the couch. 

Steve’s emptied half of his own closet for him, and Billy just puts his duffle bag in it, instead of taking his clothes out of the bag and into the closet. Billy’s hair products, shower gel, shaving cream, razor, toothbrush and toothpaste all stay in the bag too, unless he’s using them. When Steve gets up every morning, Billy is already awake, and the couch doesn’t even look slept in. He’s silent, most of the time, reading book after book from the library. He washes the dishes and does pretty much all the cleaning (including Steve’s laundry) while Steve is at work, no matter how many times Steve tells him he doesn’t need to do all that. Maybe Billy would feel better living with Steve if he stopped doing all the chores, as well as cooking most meals, and behaving like a prisoner. 

It takes a broken mug for Steve to understand what’s really going on: 

One afternoon, Steve comes home earlier than usual from his shift at Family video and finds Billy doing the washing up in the kitchen. He must have been too deep in thought to notice Steve’s arrival, because when Steve greets him, he startles and the mug he was washing slips from his hand. It hits the edge of the sink and falls to the floor, shattering on impact. Steve flinches at the same time as Billy does. 

“Fuck, fuck, I’m sorry, Steve. I’m so sorry.” Billy kneels down to pick up the pieces of the broken mug. It’s his favorite one, the one Dustin got for him. There’s a big “world’s n°1 mom” written in block letters on the front. He grumbled when it was offered to him, but he loves it really. He doesn’t even care that it’s broken, though. It’s just a mug. He’s more focused on the fact Billy might cut himself. 

He’s going to tell him to leave it, that Steve will go fetch the broom, but it’s too late: Billy hisses, and suddenly there is blood on his hand, on the piece of ceramic he’s holding, falling on the floor in a puddle. Billy doesn’t stop though: he keeps trying to clean the mess. 

Steve has to kneel beside him and hold his wrists to prevent him from continuing. He takes the jagged pieces from Billy’s bloody hand and puts them back on the floor. 

“Let’s go to the bathroom, alright? We’re going to need the first aid kit.” 

Billy doesn’t reply, he doesn’t nod, but he doesn’t resist when Steve pulls him up and leads him to the bathroom. 

Once he’s done bandaging Billy’s hand, Billy gets up from the edge of the bathtub on which he was sitting and leaves the room without a word. Steve follows him and watches, bewildered, as Billy takes his duffle bag from their shared closet and goes to the front door. 

“Billy, where are you going?” Steve tries to hide his concern, not wanting Billy to freak out even worse than he apparently is, but he’s not doing a very good job of it. 

“I’ll get out of your hair. I’m a dead weight, I’m just dragging you down.” Billy replies in a deadpan tone. 

That’s when it clicks: Billy doesn’t act the way he does because he hates living with Steve… he acts the way he does because he thinks Steve doesn’t want him here. 

He rushes to Billy’s side and puts his hands on his shoulders, as if it would stop him from bolting if he wanted to. 

“Where the fuck is that coming from?”

Billy’s staring at his shoes. 

“I don’t deserve to live here with you… I’m taking too much room, and I’m useless and clumsy… I broke your favorite mug… and…” 

“Hey, hey” Steve interrupts him. He can’t take anymore of this. “it’s just a dumb mug, it doesn’t matter. You’re not useless, and I love having you here, okay? You’re not taking too much room at all.” 

If anything, he is not taking enough. 

“You’re just saying that because you’re too nice.” Billy mumbles. 

Steve feels helpless. 

“I swear I mean it, Billy. I wish you felt more comfortable here. It’s your home too, now.” 

Hell, Billy even insists on paying part of the rent with the government hush money. He belongs here as much as Steve does, even from an objective point of view. 

“Really?” 

Billy looks up, unsure, and there are tears in his eyes. Steve can’t help but envelope him in a tight hug. He should probably have asked beforehand, but thankfully Billy doesn’t freak out on him. He just tenses slightly, before relaxing and hugging Steve back tentatively. 

Steve convinces Billy to stay, and after that incident he’s less lenient about Billy behaving the way he did before. He used not to protest because he wanted to respect Billy’s boundaries and because he thought Billy disliked him (at best). Now that he knows the horrible truth, though, this will not fly any longer. Steve’s misunderstanding of the situation led to him not doing anything to make Billy feel more welcome, and it has to change. He insists that Billy unpack, that he stop doing ninety percent of the chores and only do half of them instead. He includes him more in his own activities, instead of letting him stay in a corner reading. 

The only thing left is getting Billy to sleep in a real bed. This problem ends up solving itself when Billy wakes Steve up from a bad dream one night. Steve asks him to stay with him and Billy accepts without hesitation. He keeps to his side of the bed at first, but Steve snuggles up to him and Billy doesn’t protest. After that, they spend most nights together. 

And Steve loves it. The proximity, the intimacy, the comfort it brings. But it’s hard. It’s hard to hide the feelings he caught for Billy along the way. He can’t pinpoint when they sprang, exactly, but now they’re here and they’re not going anywhere any time soon. How could Steve not love Billy, now that he knows how caring, sensitive, and intelligent he is? 

Yes, hiding how he feels is hard. But Steve won’t say anything. He can’t. It would ruin things, and things are so good these days. 

At least, that’s what he thinks. However, one night, it becomes clear that Billy isn’t dealing as well as Steve thought with their living arrangement, that he still doesn’t feel entirely at home at the flat. And it breaks Steve’s heart. 

Billy is having a nightmare and waking him up is a struggle. Billy’s trashing too much and Steve receives a punch in the nose for his effort. When Billy finally wakes up and sees Steve holding his hand under his bloody nose, he puts two and two together and it doesn’t go well. 

“I hurt you.” He says. 

His tone is neutral, which is never a good sign. 

“Hey, it’s fine. It was an accident. You didn’t mean to.” 

“It doesn’t matter whether I meant to or not, I still hurt you.” 

And Steve loves Billy, but his stubbornness is so infuriating, especially in this kind of situations. 

“See, that’s why I shouldn’t have moved in with you. I knew I’d only bring you problems… I’ll just go.” 

Billy is already out of bed and in front of their closet, taking his empty duffle bag out. Before he can put any of his things in it, though, Steve’s by his side and basically ripping the bag from his hands. There is no way he’s letting Billy go, especially not in the middle of the night, when the pink hue of the sky indicates it’s going to snow soon. 

“Billy, stop it! I thought you were done trying to run away.” 

Billy flinches. 

“I don’t want you to leave. Okay? So, don’t use me as an excuse. If you still want to go, it’s on you, just admit that you don’t want to stay because you hate it here and be done with it.” 

Steve’s frustrated, and he’s getting worked up. He doesn’t know what more to do to make Billy comfortable. 

“Of course, I don’t hate it here, Steve… I just… I just think you deserve better than me.” 

Billy’s voice so low that Steve wouldn’t hear it if the night were any less silent. 

“That’s bullshit. You’re good Billy. You’re a great roommate, and you’re my best friend, and I don’t want anyone else. Get that into your thick head.” 

“I’m… I’m trying.” 

“I know you are. Can you also try to stop being ready to bolt at the slightest issue? It feels awful, knowing that you might leave at any time… because you are my home. If you leave, you take my home with you.” 

Billy stares at him for what feels like ages before he tackles him into a strong hug, nearly cutting Steve’s airways. Steve doesn’t mind one bit, though. He hugs back just as tightly. 

“I’m sorry.” Billy apologizes as they separate. 

“It’s okay. You’re annoying, but I love you, so I can deal with it.” Steve assures him, putting one of Billy’s curl behind his ear. 

He can see his eyes shine in the pinkish glow of the winter sky. 

“I love you too.” 

Steve’s breath hitches, and then they’re kissing softly, right in front of their open closet, their bare feet on the cold linoleum floor, goosebumps on their skin both from the chilly air and the kiss.

They’re going to be fine, now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated ;) you can also find me on tumblr if you want to chat :) https://lightsupinthenorth.tumblr.com/
> 
> Have a nice day/night guys :D


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